diff --git a/hbase-procedure/src/main/java/org/apache/hadoop/hbase/procedure2/store/wal/WALProcedureStore.java b/hbase-procedure/src/main/java/org/apache/hadoop/hbase/procedure2/store/wal/WALProcedureStore.java
index 04715dee617..8764ff02dda 100644
--- a/hbase-procedure/src/main/java/org/apache/hadoop/hbase/procedure2/store/wal/WALProcedureStore.java
+++ b/hbase-procedure/src/main/java/org/apache/hadoop/hbase/procedure2/store/wal/WALProcedureStore.java
@@ -53,6 +53,7 @@ import org.apache.hadoop.hbase.procedure2.util.ByteSlot;
 import org.apache.hadoop.hbase.procedure2.util.StringUtils;
 import org.apache.hadoop.hbase.protobuf.generated.ProcedureProtos.ProcedureWALHeader;
 import org.apache.hadoop.hbase.util.Threads;
+import org.apache.hadoop.ipc.RemoteException;
 
 import com.google.common.annotations.VisibleForTesting;
 
@@ -681,14 +682,23 @@ public class WALProcedureStore extends ProcedureStoreBase {
     FSDataOutputStream newStream = null;
     Path newLogFile = null;
     long startPos = -1;
+    newLogFile = getLogFilePath(logId);
     try {
-      newLogFile = getLogFilePath(logId);
       newStream = fs.create(newLogFile, false);
-      ProcedureWALFormat.writeHeader(newStream, header);
-      startPos = newStream.getPos();
     } catch (FileAlreadyExistsException e) {
       LOG.error("Log file with id=" + logId + " already exists", e);
       return false;
+    } catch (RemoteException re) {
+      LOG.warn("failed to create log file with id=" + logId, re);
+      return false;
+    }
+    try {
+      ProcedureWALFormat.writeHeader(newStream, header);
+      startPos = newStream.getPos();
+    } catch (IOException ioe) {
+      LOG.warn("Encountered exception writing header", ioe);
+      newStream.close();
+      return false;
     }
     lock.lock();
     try {